diff --git a/astropy/utils/misc.py b/astropy/utils/misc.py
index de3fb01d18..9ea465f574 100644
--- a/astropy/utils/misc.py
+++ b/astropy/utils/misc.py
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ class InheritDocstrings(type):
                 not key.startswith('_'))
 
         for key, val in dct.items():
-            if (inspect.isfunction(val) and
+            if (inspect.isroutine(val) and
                 is_public_member(key) and
                 val.__doc__ is None):
                 for base in cls.__mro__[1:]:
